Baby Pilot
December 1949. }} The Baby Pilot (ベビーパイロット) is a Japanese 3×4 folder, made by Tachibana Shōkai from 1941 to about 1943 and advertised again in 1948. Made by Tachibana: advertisements published in Asahi Camera January and September 1941, reproduced in , p.83, say that Tachibana was the maker and distributor of the Pilot cameras: "パイロツト写真用品'製造'発売元". This is also confirmed by the , items 168–9. Dates: , pp.339 and 358. It was essentially a bakelite copy of the Baby Pearl. Description The Baby Pilot is a vertical folding camera with a bakelite body — only the folding bed is made of metal. Bakelite body: , items 168–9; , p.358 (about the postwar models); , p.910.; Zaisu Ikon, p.7. This is confirmed by the available pictures. The overall shape and incurved body struts are copied from the Baby Pearl by Konishiroku. The bakelite has a pattern imitating a leather covering, and the name Baby Pilot is moulded on the front of the body. The camera has a folding optical finder and no body release. The bakelite advance knob is on the bottom side of the body (opposite the viewfinder). The back is hinged to the left and has two uncovered red windows to control the film advance. All the models have a front-cell focusing lens and an everset shutter. Evolution Prewar and wartime Baby Pilot The camera was announced in early 1941. , p.339. An advertisement dated September 1941 lists two lens options (f/4.5 and f/3.5, both called Pilot Anastigmat) and three shutter options (T, B, 25–150; T, B, 5–200 and T, B, 1–300, all three called Pilot). Advertisement in , reproduced in , p.83. It is said that an f/6.3 lens was also available and that the camera was effectively sold from 1942 only. , p.339. An advertisement dated February 1942 lists two versions only, both with a Pilot shutter giving T, B, 25, 50, 100, 150 speeds: Advertisement in {SB}}, reproduced in , p.83. * Pilot Anastigmat f/4.5 lens ( ); * Pilot Anastigmat f/3.5 lens ( ). In the advertising picture, the aperture scale is at the bottom of the shutter plate and the name PILOT is at the top. The lens is certainly front-cell focusing. The two above versions are also mentioned in the April 1943 government inquiry on Japanese camera production, under the names "Baby Pilot I" (f/4.5) and "Baby Pilot II" (f/3.5). , items 168–9. The two lenses have three elements and were made by Sugimoto, as well as the Pilot shutter. , lens items Jb7 and Jc13, shutter item 12-V-8. Postwar Baby Pilot II and V The Baby Pilot was advertised again in 1948 by Tachibana Shōkai. , p.358. Two versions were available: , p.358. * Baby Pilot II: Pilot 50/4.5 lens, Pilot shutter, B, 25–150 speeds; * Baby Pilot V: Pilot 50/3.5 lens, Pilot shutter, B, 25–150 speeds (the name "Baby Pilot V" might be a typo for "Baby Pilot I"). The postwar examples were probably assembled from a stock of unused parts. A picture of the Baby Pilot appears in an article on Japanese cameras in the December 1949 issue of , but this document possibly lists discontinued models as well. December 1949, p.36. Actual examples A few surviving examples have been observed so far. They are externally identical, and it is not known if they were made before or after 1945 — examples assembled before and after that date are perhaps undistinguishable. All have an f/4.5 lens, and the lens number has only two or three digits, indicating that the camera was produced in very small quantities. Examples pictured in , item 1221, (lens no.124), in Zaisu, p.7 of no.57, in , p.910, and observed in an online auction (lens no.91). The shutter speeds are 150, 100, 50, 25, B, T, engraved in that order on the rim. The shutter plate is inscribed PILOT.O at the top, and the lens marking is Pirot Anastigmat, with a typo caused by the fact that Japanese phonology does not distinguish between the "l" and "r" letters. Notes Bibliography * Item 178 and 683. (See also the advertisements for item 177.) * Items 168–9. * P.910. * December 1949. "Ōru kokusan kamera" (オール国産カメラ, All of Japanese cameras). Pp.34–41. * Item 1221. * Zaisu Ikon (座椅子遺恨, probably a pseudonym of Y. Saji). "Besuto sanka (B-1)" (ベスト讃歌B-1, Vest hymn B-1). In no.57 (March 1982). Nishinomiya: Camera Collectors News-sha. P.7. Category: Japanese 3x4 viewfinder folding Category: Bakelite Category: B Pilot, Baby